How much does a Torres del Paine tour cost?
What each price actually buys
Everything below is sold per person through GetYourGuide with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. I do not quote rates here — they move with the season and the operator, so check the live price on the booking widget.
The full-day tour from Puerto Natales — 12 hours, small group of up to 15, hotel pickup, bilingual guide, park and Milodón Cave entrance fees, travel insurance and a first-aid kit. Food is not included; there is a lunch stop. It is the cheapest way into the park on this site. My full review covers the day stop by stop.
The Milodón Cave combo — the same park circuit plus a guided hour in the Milodón Cave, with both entrance tickets and drinks included, and roughly 20 minutes at each viewpoint. It asks a little more than the standard full day, and it is also the wheelchair-accessible option.
The Base of the Towers day hike — 22 km round trip with a certified bilingual guide, trekking poles, the park fee, and food and drinks. It sits above the vehicle tours, and the difference buys support on a genuinely hard day, not comfort.
The full-day tour from Punta Arenas — a 16-hour day because of the three-hour van ride each way, with transport, guide and park plus cave entrance included. Meals are not. The extra driving is what the premium over the Puerto Natales departure pays for.
The three-hour Grey Glacier catamaran — park entrance, food and drinks, and a pisco sour on board. The catch: it departs from inside the park and includes no land transport from Puerto Natales, so it needs a day tour or your own car around it, which is the real expense.
The W Trek Express — five days, group capped at four, with beds, most meals and every transfer packaged. The day tours sit close together; the trek is in another bracket entirely. I break it down on the W Trek page.
The entrance fee, and the trap around it
Foreign adults pay CLP 34,000 for a pass of up to three days, or CLP 48,500 for more than three. Visitors aged 12 to 17 pay CLP 17,400 for the shorter pass, and under-12s enter free. CONAF charges in Chilean pesos and only in Chilean pesos. The part that catches people: CONAF sells these tickets in advance online at pases.conaf.cl, and there is no guarantee of buying one at the gate. Every day tour on this site includes the fee, so the tour handles the paperwork too. The entrance fee page has the full detail.
The do-it-yourself arithmetic
Run the numbers before assuming a tour is the expensive route. The entrance ticket alone is CLP 34,000 — a serious fraction of what the full-day tour charges, before you have hired a car, fuelled it for the two-hour drive each way from Puerto Natales, or worked out where the viewpoints are. The tour includes the ticket, the driving, and a guide who has done the loop several hundred times. Self-driving makes sense for photographers who want to control their own clock; for a first visit, the tour is usually the cheaper and easier day. How you would get here at all is covered on the getting there page.
In the full-day tour price
- Hotel pickup and drop-off in Puerto Natales
- Park entrance fee (CLP 34,000 value) and Milodón Cave ticket
- Bilingual guide, first-aid kit and travel insurance
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Not in it
- Food and drinks — there is a lunch stop, bring cash or a packed lunch
- Tips
- Anything in the park beyond the tour route
Where the W Trek money goes
The package covers four nights of accommodation, four breakfasts, three boxed lunches, four dinners, the transfers and catamarans, and a guide on the first trekking day. It does not cover the park entrance (the CLP 48,500 multi-day pass), the required insurance, in-town taxis, tips or alcohol. Booking the same beds and ferries yourself is not dramatically cheaper once you add everything up; what the package really sells is the planning. Whether any of this is money well spent is the subject of the worth-it page.
Check live prices and dates
Rates change with the season, the operator and the exchange rate, which is why I keep them off the page; the widget shows what your dates actually cost.
Reserve-now-pay-later applies to most departures, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before on all six tours. Book the date you want early — especially for day tours in December to February — and let the weather forecast decide later.
Frequently asked questions
Is the park entrance fee included in tour prices?
On every day tour listed here, yes — including the Grey Glacier boat. The W Trek Express is the exception: you buy the CLP 48,500 multi-day pass yourself, in advance online through CONAF. The entrance fee page lists every CLP price.
Is a tour cheaper than renting a car?
Usually, for a single day. The entrance ticket is CLP 34,000 on its own, and the full-day tour includes it plus pickup, guide and the four-hour round-trip drive. A rental only starts to win if you are several people staying several days. The getting there page compares the options.
Why is the W Trek so much more expensive than a day tour?
You are buying four nights of scarce beds inside and beside the park, most meals, transfers, catamarans and a guided first day — for five days, not twelve hours. Doing it independently is not dramatically cheaper. The full breakdown is on the W Trek packages page.
Are there hidden costs on the day tours?
Food is the main one: the two full-day vehicle tours exclude meals, so carry lunch money or a packed lunch. The day hike and the glacier boat include food and drinks. Nothing else should surprise you — entrance fees are in every day-tour price, as the day tours page spells out per tour.